The potential value of ultrasound in predicting local refractory/relapse events in primary thyroid lymphoma patients

• Published in: Cancer imaging 2024-03, Vol.24 (1), p.39-39, Article 39
• Main Authors: Ji, Jiang, Gao, Luying, Liu, Ruifeng, Shi, Xinlong, Ma, Liyuan, Pan, Aonan, Li, Naishi, Liu, Chunhao, Li, Xiaoyi, Yang, Meng, Xia, Yu, Jiang, Yuxin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biopsy; Comparative analysis; Health aspects; Health surveillance; Humans; Lobes; Lymphatic system; Lymphoma; Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone - pathology; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse - diagnostic imaging; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse - pathology; Medical diagnosis; Medical prognosis; Metastasis; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - diagnostic imaging; Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas; Pathology; Patients; Primary thyroid lymphoma; Prognosis; Refractory; Relapse; Signal distribution; Software; Survival analysis; Thyroid cancer; Thyroid diseases; Thyroid Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Thyroid Neoplasms - pathology; Trachea; Treatment outcome; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasound; Vincristine
• ISSN: 1470-7330; 1740-5025; 1470-7330
• DOI: 10.1186/s40644-024-00681-z

Primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL) is a rare malignant disorder, and ultrasound plays an important role in PTL diagnosis and follow-up surveillance. Prediction of refractory/relapse events in PTL patients is an essential issue, yet no ultrasonic PTL features have been discovered to be related to refractory/local relapse events. From January 2008 to September 2022, newly diagnosed PTL patients in our center who underwent standard first-line treatment and received an ultrasound examination before treatment were enrolled. Data regarding patients' clinical and sonographic features, as well as their therapeutic responses were collected. Subjects with an ideal prognosis were compared to those with refractory/relapse events. In total, 37 PTL patients were analyzed, including 26 with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, 2 with follicular lymphoma and 9 with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. During the median follow-up of 25 months, 30 patients obtained a complete response, 4 were refractory patients, and 3 experienced local relapse. No significant difference was detected in the baseline clinical characteristics between patients with an ideal prognosis and those with refractory/local relapse events. In terms of sonographic features, however, an event-free survival (EFS) curve comparison revealed that patients with bilobar enlargement (defined as an anterior-posterior diameter > 2.5 cm on both sides of thyroid lobes) had a poorer EFS than those without (P  2.5 cm for both thyroid lobes or PTL patients of the diffuse ultrasound type could be prone to refractory/local relapse events.